Fourth Tri continental filmfest kicks off in Delhi on Friday

New Delhi, Jan 16 (UNI) A festival of films from Latin America, Africa and Asia showcasing various facets of human rights cinema in these Continents will kick off in the capital this Friday.

The fourth edition of the 'Tri Continental festival' will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. Twenty-three films from Latin America, South Africa and Asia relating several stories from the past and the present highlighting various aspects of human rights in these continents will be screened at the festival.

Being organized by 'Breakthrough', an international human rights organization that uses education and popular culture to promote values of dignity, equality and justice.

The festival will open with the screening of Iranian film "Its Always Late for Freedom", which portrays three youth held in a correction centre in Tehran and exposes Iran's social problems of drugs.

The film, directed by Award winning Iranian filmmaker Mehrdad Oskouei, also looks on the issues like poverty and divorce in the movie through the tale of the three teenage boys.

Among the other films scheduled to be screened at the four day film festival are "Thousand Days and a Dream" (India), "From Dust" (Sri Lanka/UAE), "In The Tall Grass" (Rwanda), "With or without Fidel" (Cuba), "Movement (R)evolution Africa"(US), "China Blue"(China/US), "Assaulted Dream" (Guetamala), "Independent Intervention" (Iraq/Norway/US), "Kings and Extras" Palestine/Germany) "Hip Hop Revolution" (South Africa) and "A Jihad For Love"(US/UK/France/Germany/Australia).

Initiated in Latin America in 2002, South Africa in 2003 and India in 2004 (hence the name tri-continental film festival), the tri-continental film festival has become an annual platform for narrative, documentary, feature and short length in the three continents.

The first Tri-continental film festival in India traveled to Bangalore, Chandigarh, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune, reaching students and practitioners of human rights.

The films were also screened for cultural institutions, focused groups as well as general audiences.

According to the organizers, the films spark discussions, debates and conversations about human rights and social justice issues.

During the course of the year, films from the festival are also screened at universities, cultural institutions, among practitioners of human rights, citizens' groups as well as general audiences.

''This year, the festival attempts to bring to the fore untold stories from the past, from the depths of our memory, stories that might have been history if they were told,''says Alika Khosla, associate director of the festival, which comes to a close on January 21.

An unique feature of the festival has been the 'travelling screen' which means that the screenings of the film festival are held in several areas across the country.

The festival this year is travelling to various parts of India in January and February.

The screenings of various films will be held at the India Habitat centre and the Alliance Francaise. After this, the Tri Continental film fest will go to Mumbai where it will be held from January 25-27,Bangalore (February 1-3) and Kolkata (February 8-10).

Each screening is usually followed by active and participatory debates and discussions on issues involved in the films.

Films selected for the festival are judged by a jury including filmmakers, film critics and scholars and artists.